followed by your response to 622639. we read the best responses later. the next 30 minutes will be your cram session for this thursday, may 10th. a lot to tell you about. including a breakdown of where the country actually stands on question of gay marriage. we'll see what this can tell us about how the president's announcement will play. the texas prison inmate who got himself on the ballot in west virginia's presidential primary. and with the help of his raccoon tail swiped 41% of the vote. we'll get up close and personal with mr. keith judd later. first the news live at 5:30. after years of evolving on the issue, and frustrating his progressive supporters, president obama made history yesterday. becoming the first sitting president to say gay and lesbian couples should have the legal right to marry. the white house admits the president did not intend to make an announcement this week. sam stein of the "huffington

post" reports that the president has personally supported the issue for several months and was planning to make it public sometime before the democratic national convention in early september. after vice president biden came out in support of gay marriage in sunday's "meet the press," there was added pressure from gay and lesbian financial supporters for the president to clarify his views. in an interview yesterday with abc's robin roberts, president obama sat down to explain his opinion on marriage equality. >> i've always been adamant that gay and lesbian americans should be treated fairly and equally. i had hesitated on gay marriage, in part because i thought civil unions would be sufficient. that that was something that would give people hospital visitation rights and other elements that we take for granted. and i was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people, the word "marriage" was something

that evoeks very powerful traditions, religious beliefs and so forth. i have to tell you that over the course of several years as i talked to friends and family and neighbors, when i think about members of my own staff who are incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when i think about those soldiers or airmen or marines, sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf, and yet, feel constrained, even now that don't ask don't tell is gone, because they're not able to commit themselves in a marriage. at a certain point i just concluded that, for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that i

think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> a day after north carolina voted to implement a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, the president told abc news, he supports the concept of states deciding the issue on their own. saying this is just his personal belief. the president also suggested views on gay marriage are generational. telling robin roberts, conversations with his young daughters helped him come to his own opinion. >> you know, malia and sasha, they've got friends whose parents are same-sex couples. and you know, there have been times where michelle and i have been sitting around the dinner table and we've been talking and about their friends and their parents. and malia and sasha, it wouldn't dawn on them that somehow their friends' parents would be treated differently. it doesn't make sense to them. and frankly, that's the kind of thing that prompts a change of perspective. >> in many ways, the president's evolution as they called it on

gay marriage is coming full circle this week. in 1996, then-illinois state senate candidate, barack obama, told a chicago newspaper he was in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage. but over the past 16 years as you'll see here, president obama has struggled publicly with his view on gay marriage. >> what i believe in my faith, is that a man and a woman when they get married, are performing something before god and it's not simply the two persons who are meeting. i believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman. now for me as a christian -- for me as a christian, it's also a sacred union. my feelings about this are constantly evolving. i struggle with this. i have friends, i have people who work for me, who are in powerful, strong, long-lasting

gay or lesbian unions. and they are extraordinary people. >> that was just in 2008 during the campaign when he told rick warren he believes marriage is between a man and a woman. the president's position doesn't change any law, certainly. it does inject a prominent social issue into this race for president. yesterday, mitt romney affirmed his opposition to gay marriage but said states should be able to extend some rights to same-sex couples. states are able to make decisions with regards to domestic partnership benefits. such as hospital visitation rights. benefits and so forth, of various kinds could be determined state by state. but my view is that marriage itself is a relationship between a man and a woman and that's my own preference. i know other people have differing views. this is a very tender and sensitive topic, as are many social issues. but i have the same view that i've had since well since running for office.

>> republican national committee chairman accused the president of playing politics with his announcement yesterday, and ralph reed of the faith and freedom coalition said the issue will galvanize conservatives to vote for mitt romney's campaign. the latest polling from gallup shows 50% of americans believe same-sex marriage should be legal, a 23-point jump from 1996. 48% say it should be illegal. and you can see from 1996 to present day, those two lines on the gallup graph begin crossing sometime last year. for more on the impact of the president's announcement, we bring in by phone msnbc and "time" magazine senior political analyst, mark halperin, the co-author of "game change." >> how could it be more than you just did. >> i'm interested in how this came about. the conventional wisdom is that joe biden goes on "meet the press," tells david gregory that

he supports gay marriage. a morning later. arne duncan is asked the same question, he says he supports it and that forces the president's hand. the president told robin roberts that he was going to come out with this sometime before the convention. is that supported by your reporting? was he about to come out with this, anyway, or was he pushed by joe biden? >> i think it accelerated the timing. but a lot of people around the president felt he was going to do this. there's a tendency to put off a difficult political decision and there was nothing really forcing the president's timing, except i think the democratic convention, when the democratic platform has to be written to express the party's view on this issue. but i think it's clear that the vice president and secretary duncan forced the president. because he has a number of events coming up in hollywood, in new york. with activists and liberals, many prominent gay and lesbian gay and lesbian activist who is wanted to hear him on this issue. and it became increasingly

uncomfortable and with the north carolina vote, it forced them to do what they were kind of putting off to try to look for the right moment. >> he's going to be at clooney's place tonight with his hollywood friends raising some money. what is, mark, the real significance of this? he went out to say this is my personal view, it should be left up to the states. how does this move the issue forward in the country? >> you can make a long list on the pure political calculation fronts. why it could help him, how it could hurt him? >> i think in the end it won't be much of an issue and to the extent it is, it will probably help the president. emotion matters in politics. for the president, his advisers and people who support his position, this is very emotional. it's emotional for the grassroots, for republicans. who and conservative who is oppose the president's position. it doesn't seem particularly emotional for mitt romney. it didn't seem particularly emotional for john bainor when he discussed it yesterday. republicans want to move to the economy. so at the level of political

communication, at the level of the president trying to make his campaign infused with emotion, i think this is good for the president. and i think it's going to raise him some money. as i said, it's not going to be a primary issue in the campaign. >> we're just put up on the screen while you're talking, gallup poll, 57% of independents support gay marriage. we're talking on monday, just monday or maybe it was even tuesday on "morning joe," about how the president was thinking about north carolina and virginia, in not coming out publicly to support gay marriage. how does this change things now potentially in the general election in those two states? >> if you look at the seven to 12 states that are going to decide this election, in about half of them, gay marriage could clearly be a negative for the president in parts of virginia and parts of ohio in parts of iowa and parts of wisconsin. in parts of florida. it's clearly a potential negative. but on the other side, you've got young people, who disproportionately favor gay marriage and a lot of people in urban areas who will be enthused by this. so it's going to be an issue,

it's going to be a an issue for voters. but five years ago, this would have been an impossible thing for him to do now it's an unknown or a toss-up. still ahead here on "way too early," life without mariano, the yankees took a one-run lead in the beginning of the ninth. but this time, superman sidelined with a knee injury did not fly in from the bull pen to close out the game. the night in baseball and the nba and nhl playoffs. vice president biden, putting into warp speed the president's evolution on gay marriage. and now, he's on "jeopardy"? biden on "jeopardy" and a check on the weather. once a prisoner of the state, nelson mandala this

morning became head of state. mandala, revolutionary, political prisoner, now president. >> so help me god. [ male announcer ] what can you do with plain white rice? when you pour chunky beef with country vegetables soup over it... you can do dinner. four minutes, around four bucks. campbell's chunky. it's amazing what soup can do. ♪

♪ [ male announcer ] everyone likes a bit of order in their life. virtual wallet helps you get it. keep track of spending, move money with a slide, and use the calendar. all to see your money how you want. ♪ born to leap, born to stalk, and born to pounce. to understand why, we journeyed to africa, where their wild ancestor was born. there we discovered that cats, no matter where they are... are born to be cats. and shouldn't your cat be who he was born to be? discover your cat's true nature. purina one.

uh, trouble with a car insurance claim. ah, claim trouble. [ dennis ] you should just switch to allstate, and get their new claim satisfaction guarantee. hey, he's right man. [ dennis ] only allstate puts their money where their mouth is. yup. [ dennis ] claim service so good, it's guaranteed. [ foreman ] so i can always count on them. unlike randy over there. that's one dumb dude. ♪ the new claim satisfaction guarantee. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. mcallen, texas. in here, heavy rental equipment in the middle of nowhere, is always headed somewhere. to give it a sense of direction, at&t created a mobile asset solution to protect and track everything. so every piece of equipment knows where it is, how it's doing or where it goes next. ♪ this is the bell on the cat.

[ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ 5:44 in the morning, an ugly morning here in new york city, a little drizzly out on the plaza. let's see if it's going to get better with our man, bill karins. bill, how is it looking? >> ugly morning, great afternoon. that's the way we like it we'll see that orange thing in the sky which has been a little rare lately. as far as this morning, willie mentioned the rain in new york city, it's locked in right now through all of new england. good news for philadelphia, atlantic city and all the way through baltimore and d.c., your rain is over. you'll have a dry, beautiful day today. as far as hartford and boston goes, you're probably going to have to wait until after the morning rush hour. by noon today, all your rain will be done with. it's going to linger longer up there in areas of maine. but tomorrow and through the

weekend, you should even have a nice forecast. the other trouble spot developing over the next three days in texas, rain just beginning. this will be about a three-day rain event for you. the drought still pretty prevalent, special entry west texas, but too much rain all at once will cause some flooding. we're expecting around two to three inches, pretty widespread with this high totals about four inches. so today's forecast, new england, rainy to start, the afternoon is dry. the rest of the country looks pretty fantastic today, including the west coast. and as far as mother's day goes, still looking at the trouble spot, tennessee, kentucky, mississippi, alabama and even now in new england, a few showers, not picture-perfect, but most of the day will be dry. >> a big band of weather coming up from new orleans. thanks so much. we turn to sports now, we begin with the nhl playoffs, the caps trying to stay alive at home down 3-2 in their series against the hated new york rangers. less than a minute and a half into the first period, the caps already on the power play, alex ovechkin, one-times it. the wrister past henrik

lundquist, caps take a 1-0 lead. second period, same score, john karlsson throws it in front of the net and jason chimera with the rebound, the rangers did get a late goal, but the caps hang on to win, 2-1. they stay alive. they'll play a game seven saturday in new york. after the game, rangers coach john tortorella, a man you should know, who hates the media. >> john, was the overall effort what you needed. the level of effort? >> no. >> john, the time-out in the second period, and they scored almost immediately thereafter, what was that time-out about for you? >> what was the time-out about? i had a tired group out there. >> did you think steppen had a bounce-back game individually. >> i'm not going to comment on individual players with you guys. >> did you give thought during the game to bumping him back up? >> stop coaching, pat.

>> the four-minute power play. >> suck. >> what did that do for momentum? >> that kills you, it sucked. >> the best part of the change -- what was the time-out about. and he says the time-out was about, you got to love hockey. the tampa bay rays playing the yankees in new york. joe girardi still trying to sort through the closer situation. skip ahead, top of the ninth, game tied at 1-1, two on, matt joyce takes a pitch from robertson into the right field seats, a three-run home run. joyce limping as he rounds the bases. he rolled his ankle on the swing but still punched it out of the park. dave robertson, he blows the save in the absence in the absence of mariano rivera. the rays come back in the ninth to beat the yankees 4-. over in the national legal, nl west rivals, giants with a lead, 2-1, tim lincecum on the hill,

tony gynn, it gives a 4-2 lead. that would be enough. los angeles wins, lincecum gives up four runs, strikes out eight in the loss. dodgers lead the giants in the west by five games. final score, 6-2. and the nba playoffs, knicks avoided a sweep a couple of days ago in new york but the heat decided last night to stop messing around. first quarter, carmelo anthony, kicks it out to mike bibby. new york did have an early six-point lead but you knew it wouldn't last. mario chal mers finds dwyane wade, nice alley-oop there. part of wade's 19 points in the game. third quarter, lebron steps up, with a long fade-away jumper. that wasn't a fade-away jumper, for 18 points, miami led -- there's the fade-away jumper. the heat never looked back. they clinch the series with a

99-86 win. the knicks' amar'e stoudemire filed out of the game in the fourth quarter. here's how it was announced. remember, he punched the fire extinguisher. here's how they announced his exit from the game. >> amar'e stoudemire, that's his sixth, he has been extinguished from the game. >> if you're listening at home on the radio, the public address announcer said he has been extinguished from the game. get it? coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," president obama summons robin roberts to the white house to announce his support for gay marriage. a big event, but will it matter come election day? we'll knock it around with the "morning joe" crew. and when we come back, we'll huddle around the water cooler

to get to know a little better a man named keith judd, he's got a fluffy raccoon tail and he won 41% of the vote in west virginia's primary and is a prison inmate. a liiiiittle bit . [ man ] he hits it! [ morgan ] ...go just a liiiiittle bit further... [ woman ] a perfect 10! [ morgan ] they can even be perfect. and when we come together... to cheer...as one... [ chuckles ] ...we know what happens. [ crowd cheering ] visa. proud sponsor of the olympic games for 25 years. join our global cheer.

talk about it all morning, president of the united states offering yesterday his support for gay marriage, saying he believes the issue should be

decided by individual states. as of tuesday, north carolina became the 31st state to pass a constitutional amendment that bans same-sex marriage. if you want to sound smart today, tell your friends six states and the district of columbia allow gay couples to marry. by the end of the year, there could be three more. voters in maine will decide whether to reverse a 2009 decision to overturn the state's law that allows gay marriage and likely referendums in washington state and maryland will determine whether or not recent bills approving same-sex marriage will be upheld. enough of the real news, let's huddle up to dig deep near the great american story of young keith judd. he's the texas prison inmate we told you about yesterday, got himself on the ballot in west virginia. for tuesday's democratic presidential primary. won himself 41% of the vote. the president of the united states, with his obvious advantage of franking privileges was able to get 59%. favorite actor? gene hackman.

his favorite book? "the stand." his favorite color is purple. and his favorite food, this is the best one -- quote i forgot." by the way, his favorite president, richard nixon. he got us out of vietnam and began world peace with china and the soviets. he finsished first in the idaho democratic primary. he's a texas prison inmates who gets himself on these ballots. jon stewart took up the question last night. >> let's take a look at west virginia, the president lost 40% of the vote in last night's democratic primary, he won overall but lost to an inmate. the guy's name is keith judd, serving time in texas. >> that is [ bleep ] up. wow. wow!

i guess west virginia is one of them primaries where republicans can vote in the democrat's primary just to mess with them and then they -- wow. only democrats and independents? that is [ bleep ] up! please tell me that the guy who got 40% of the vote is wearing a coonskin cap or is being attacked by a ferret. because -- oh boy. >> that's all natural and it's all natural. by the way, did you see vice president joe biden on "teen jeopardy" last night? joe biden on "teen jeopardy" presenting the cars in america category. >> here come the dollar figures. and now the categories. >> i'm joe biden. as a car nut and the son of a man who managed an automobile dealership, i'm here to talk about the automobile's role in our country's past and present. so here's cars in america. >> okay, kevin your choice as

you start us. >> cars in america for 200. >> mr. vice president? >> the chevy coach dates from around the time this game the world's largest car company. with cars like my favorite, the corvette, it held that position until 2008. then filed for bankruptcy, but now it's back on top. >> rose? >> what is gm? >> gm, general motors, good. >> joe biden likes the corvette. you hear trebek going to leave "jeopardy"? he can't leave. still ahead, your texts, tweets and emails are just ahead. ♪ ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people

by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. riding the dog like it's a small horse is frowned upon in this establishment! luckily though, ya know, i conceal this bad boy underneath my blanket just so i can get on e-trade. check my investment portfolio, research stocks... wait, why are you taking... oh, i see...solitary. just a man and his thoughts. and a smartphone... with an e-trade app. ♪ nobody knows... [ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed. who's she? downy unstopables.

here to shake up your fresh. like a cheerleader on espresso. toss these little scent boosters in before you wash. and the fresh scent will last until you're ready to wash again. [ buzzer ] [ laughs ] [ both sniff ] and this fresh scent will last? it's like you shoved a rainbow up your nose. i should go. downy unstopables. the fresh too feisty to quit. [ male announcer ] for our families... our neighbors... and our communities... america's beverage companies have created a wide range of new choices. developing smaller portion sizes and more low- & no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels so you know exactly what you're choosing... and in schools, replacing full-calorie soft drinks with lower-calorie options. with more choices and fewer calories, america's beverage companies are delivering.

that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. we i love some of the humorless people on twitter. he would never win the general election. you don't think the